There are several ways to find out whether a population's health is improving or if people in a particular country, city or region are getting sicker. These measures are known as sentinel health events or indicators.

Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that an important explanation for declining rates of global adolescent fertility is rising national wealth and expenditures on education. Income inequalities ...

Nov 15, 2016

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Birth rate

Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year.

It can be represented by number of childbirths in that year, and p is the current population. This figure is combined with the crude death rate to produce the rate of natural population growth (natural in that it does not take into account net migration).

As of 2007[update], the average birth rate for the whole world is 20.3 per year per 1000 total population, which for a world population of 6.5 billion comes to 134 million babies per year.

Another indicator of fertility that is frequently used is the total fertility rate, which is the average number of children born to each woman over the course of her life. In general, the total fertility rate is a better indicator of (current) fertility rates because unlike the crude birth rate it is not affected by the age distribution of the population.

Fertility rates tend to be higher in less economically developed countries and lower in more economically developed countries.

The birth rate is an item of concern and policy for a number of national governments. Some, including those of Italy and Malaysia, seek to increase the national birth rate using measures such as financial incentives or provision of support services to new mothers. Conversely, others aim to reduce the birth rate. For example, China's One child policy; measures such as improved information about and availability of birth control have achieved similar results in countries such as Iran.